Monday, February 18, 2013

To the Doctor we go....

Since it was a holiday, my guys both got to travel to Springfield with me today. We had a great time, I know these days are numbered as Robert will be in his own job one of these days and his world will very seldom mesh with mine and Andrew's, but I will take every chance I get to spend time with both my wonderful guys. We left at 7:30 this morning and made a stop in Effingham at Neimerg's for Breakfast. We have never taken Robert to Neimergs for breakfast, bad parents! I don't know how we did that. Of course, I have ate more breakfasts at Neimergs at 1:00 in the morning, after closing Walmart, or the Refinery than I ever did in the actual morning. Oh well, good breakfast.

We then went on to Springfield, we had some shopping to do, I didn't get much, another instant phone charger and some things I had to have from Wallyworld. Somehow Andrew was the big winner walking away with two new shirts, two ties, a belt, and a coat. I was looking for new clothes but I think I am still in mourning over the ones in the big black bag, you know how right after you lose your favorite pet, the last think you want to think about it getting another one? I think I'm there. The problem with that though is I HAVE to have some clothes. Oh well, I'm picky, probably by the time I have enough to do me, I will be in a smaller size again, I hope anyway.

So, we went on to my doctor's appointment at 3. I had to have blood work and since we got there at 2:30, I had time to get that done before my appointment instead of after. I got to the lobby of my doc's office at a quarter til, they called me in at 10 til and he walked in the room at 5 til. I have to say, I have never once had to wait a long period of time on him.

We talked, I told him I was doing fantastically, that I was so excited that I sleep through the night, that I am only going to the bathroom between 5 and 8 times a day and that is great with me. His answer, "yeah, that's good, but I want to try to do better". What is it about this guy??? lol, I told the guys, I feel like a little kid running in the house with an A+ on a paper and my mom not being impressed (no, that never happened, my mom was always excited about good grades--but you know what I mean). Robert gave me a speech on the way home that he (my doctor) is just wanting the best for me because I demand the best of myself in every other aspect, yes, the kid made me cry.

Dr. Peterson really believes we can get me down to 2-3 stools a day. Please understand that for the past 2 1/2 years, around 15 was a "normal" day, 20 was an okay day and if I had less than 12, it was a miracle. Couple that with the fact that I CONSTANTLY felt like I needed to go to the bathroom and you have a little picture of what life has been. And when I did go, it was almost always blood and water. In the last month, we have gotten me back to the 5-8 times, no blood and no diarrhea, which truly does seem miraculous to me. On top of everything else, being able to sleep through the entire night gives me the energy to want to do things when I get home from work instead of just wanting to go to sleep. Oh, and the newest sensation, needing to pee. When you go to the bathroom all the time, you just pee when you go, I have not needed to pee in 2 1/2 years so it feels really funny when I realize I need to.

While I was in the hospital, I was getting 500 mg of steroids every 12 hours. When I came home, I was doing 40 mg of prednisone, dropping by 5 mg a week so now, today, I get to start 15 mg. I want off of this so bad. I would love to drop to 10 and then zero, or at least 10 to 5 to done but we have to do it "right", so I get to do a week of 15, then 10, then 7.5, 5, 2.5 and finally zero. Five weeks to being prednisone free!  And then, the medicine that I call my miracle drug got doubled, I start taking double the amount tomorrow morning. I am looking forward to seeing what it does. I think I have mentioned before that it is an immunosuppresent. I had blood test two weeks ago though and they show that my body is handling it well. We have to watch the white blood cell counts, but right now they are good. I will have blood tests once a month for at least the first year.  So, that's where we stand. I am extremely happy even though I can't seem to impress my doctor.....guess I have a new goal for my next appointment on the 20th of May!

Geesh, I about forgot to mention that I finally got my Red Lobster!!  Good end to a great day!




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